Tanya Marchiol of TEAM Investments: The Principles of Prosperity

Tanya Marchiol of TEAM (Together Everyone Achieves More) Investments produces a well-needed service to professional athletes and other qualified customers. We’ve all heard the horror stories of those who go from smiling success to losing it all as quickly as they made it. She presents real estate opportunities and financial strategies that will prohibit such a disaster by offering proper education that has been cultivated through experience and a wealth of knowledge. Her clients range from Donovan McNabb to the 2007 number one pick in the NFL Draft, JaMarcus Russell–who has finally signed (9/11)with the Raiders. Tanya has a great personality and makes it her personal business to ensure athletes sustain career and lifelong wealth. As an outside hitter for the Indiana University Volley Ball team (’92-’94), she garnered a competitive spirit that she uses to her advantage daily in taking the business world by storm.

Michael Tillery: What was the original thought behind starting your business?

Tanya Marchiol: I worked with a couple of athletes when I initially chose to get into real estate and realized that nobody was educating them on how to invest in real estate and really create lasting life long wealth. Three or four years ago, you could throw money anywhere and make money. How do you do that in today’s market? How do you know when the cycles are coming and going in real estate? How do you know what to invest in and not to invest in so that you are always having your money make money?

I saw an opportunity because of the aforementioned lack of education.

MT: Besides obvious reasons of course, why is it important for professional athletes to sustain their wealth?

TM: Being an athlete myself, I felt a lull after the game. As athletes, we are conditioned to be competitive. After the games stop, where do you go? You have to make sure your money is properly invested. One of the things that I saw in my guys is that they were handing their money over to a financial advisor–which is great. I think that financial advisors definitely play a role in making sure they maintain their wealth. However, they aren’t teaching the athletes what to do with their money; they are just doing it for them.

If you hand someone a fish they eat for a day, but if you teach them to fish, they eat for a lifetime.

I wanted to create that type of scenario. Being in real estate, I realized that it’s one way to create everlasting wealth.

MT: You were out there in Phoenix doing your thing and obviously were successful before the advent of taking on professional athletes as clients. What made you realize that athletes retaining your services were a viable commodity?

TM: I was an athlete. My brother actually played in the NFL. My father played in the NFL. I’ve seen my brother make more money than he would have ever made by just being an average player in the NFL.

Whether you’re average, above average or a superstar, it doesn’t matter because athletes are getting large sums of money all at once. No one is telling them that it’s only for a short period. They have to make it last. I’ve several friends that played three or four years and have regular jobs. It was such a difficult transition. I wanted to give players an opportunity to not ever know what a regular job is.

MT: Tanya, I see that you are also into creating new business ventures.

TM: I’m writing a book entitled The Prosperity Principles (due out November or December of this year).It’s important that each of us–whether famous or not–to run our life with prosperity in mind. That means everlasting abundance. If I’m abundant ineverything I do–my finances, my happiness, my health–then I’m living a pretty good life.

I have a few keys to The Prosperity Principles. One is making wise decisions. Of course, I’m going to teach you to make wise decisions with your money and that success will attach itself to other areas of your life.

Two is running your life like a business. No matter if it’s me, you Michael or Donovan McNabb, you need to have your entity structured to have the most tax benefits for your situation. Everything you do should be a write off. There’s a tax system for the rich and one for the poor. The poor system is that you make money, you pay taxes and you spend what’s left over. On the other side, you make money, you spend whatever you spend and then pay taxes on what you have left over. I want to teach people to play the game the way Donald Trump and Bill Gates play. That just isn’t a lifestyle for the exorbitantly wealthy–it needs to be for each one of us.

MT: Is it just high-end clients or could anyone retain your services?

TM: Anyone and everyone. I’m working with Doug Mortman (producer and head of NFL Sirius Radio). It’s his first venture. Like you or I, he’s not at a crazy Donovan McNabb wealth level. How do I get him there? You take baby steps. We’re buying an apartment complex and then a mobile home park. It’s really a profit.

It’s not just for athletes or the wealthy, it’s for everyone.

MT: You spoke earlier about your family having an athletic background and also having business acumen. What has that experience taught you?

TM: My family owns about 52 clubs. I see how my uncle manages people at his club. My brother sells life insurance to the big wire houses. He has been my A #1 mentor as far as business goes. I see how he creates. One of the biggest things in business is problem solving. I’ve seen the right way and the wrong way. I always want to be around people better than me that can teach me how to do it the right way.

MT: What type of professional athlete are you looking for? What are the criteria?

TM: Anyone out there that is willing to understand how to make money with their money. We don’t live in the day where parents used to say that money grows on trees, but we need to change that mindset. Money does flow easily into our life. Prosperity can be a part of our every day life. We need to tell ourselves every day that we are going to be prosperous and then money will flow easily into our life. Wealth can be created.

I don’t live in a box. Anyone that is willing to take a step out of the norm, and understand how to invest in a different way–I’ll work with.

MT: Who are some of your clients besides Donovan McNabb–whom you’ve mentioned? I’m an Eagles fan. He had better do something this year.

TM: (Tanya laughs) Donovan is great. I handle a lot of his personal business–his houses, his land. I work hand in hand with him and his wife.

JaMarcus Russell. I just did his personal family home in Oakland.

Turk McBride (2007 Kansas City draft choice and featured on HBO’s Hard Knocks). We actually are doing quite a bit together. I did his personal family home. We are now working on a mobile home park in Florida. He really wants some passive income, which is great.

I’m working with Jarvis Moss. I’ve worked with Javon Walker, Bo Outlaw and many others.

MT: You seem like a very busy person. I see you are involved in a lot of charity work. Why the need?

TM: I’ve been blessed. This is truly my calling so I feel the need to give back. I give back to those less fortunate and also to those who want to be educated. To can’t get better than giving back to kids. Teaching kids at a young age about money, instead of just handing them things, makes them understand the meaning of the dollar. It’s worth it to them because you then grow up with a different mindset.

MT: What types of work are you involved in currently?

TM: Big Brothers Big Sisters. I just started doing a couple of small things with United Way. I’ve worked with the Arizona Cardinals charities. I work a lot with my NFL guy’s charities and I donate to Stedman-Hawkins Foundation as well. I blew out my knee and Dr. Stedman put me back together and ever since then I’ve always donated to their charity events.

MT: How has being a successful outside hitter at IndianaUniversity translated to running a successful business?

TM: Sports in any way, shape or form always relates to business. I went from being a star athlete in high school–all state and held records–to going into college where everyone is good. I had to work hard to get up the ladder. I wasn’t the best, but I definitely was the hardest worker. If practice went two hours, I went two and a half. It definitely carried over to business. If you want to achieve something, put in some hard work and you’ll see a nice return. Whether it is the competitiveness, hard work or things not always being fair, I learned that real estate is my new sport.

MT: Talk about the National Republican Congressional Committee Business Advisory Board award you received as Business Woman of the Year that was presented by President Bush. Damn that was a mouthful.

TM: (Tanya chuckles) You know, that was a huge honor to me. I’m not heavy into politics, but I definitely do support certain values. For me to receive that honorwas…One of the reasons why they chose me was because I presented problems and solutions. We need to live more independently as opposed to living off the government so much. How I propose to do that is by educating people more instead of holding them back by just handing them things. If we hand them something, then let’s educate them in another area. I’ve never been involved in anything like that, so to get to go to the White House and be in that area was a huge honor.

MT: You’ve definitely carved a niche working with professional athletes. What separates you from others in a similar position?

TM: Number one, I’ve been there. My experience precedes me. The attitude that athletes are just unaware of what they are going to do after sports. I’ve been there. I can relate to those who have played for 5-10 years and never want to work again. I understand living in an area of “What now?” God puts experiences in our life so that we can relate to others. I can relate to the players and they can relate to me. I grew up in an athletic world and if you haven’t you have to understand that there is a different mentality in a sense that a lot of guys don’t want to learn right away. It might be a situation where I’ll be friends with someone for 3 years and they never do any investing. Then they’ll ask me out of the blue about what I do. It’s relationship building and very patient business. Things don’t always happen over night.

TM: I don’t look at other realtors or others doing what I’m doing as competition. I think if we all come together and see a bigger picture, then we’ll reach a greater amount of people. I would love to talk to him and talk about the possibility of working together.

MT: Do you set personal goals? Where exactly do you see yourself down the line?

TM: I put in eighteen-hour days. I do what I have to do, but I only want to do this for another seven years. My goal is to create an empire that I can run and put other people in places where I am today. I don’t want this to stop. I want it to continue. If it’s gone, then what good was it? I want to give time back to kids and my family–or if I have kids at that time, my kids. I want this to be self-sufficient. I’ve always thought that I would be good at leading leaders, so let me go out and teach leaders how to get it done better. I want to do speaking, helping and giving back why my staff does the one on one stuff.

MT: What type of people are you looking to put in place?

TM: I have a great staff now. I’ve been through good and bad. You always learn from your mistakes. You have to have people that are willing to give. When you give, you get. If you are in this strictly for financial gain, you’ll never be good at it. What I really look for–when I hire, when I interview or if I’m looking for teammates to work with me–are the personal goals of others. Educating is huge and if you can’t teach, you’ll never be good at what I do.

You also have to be a problem solver. You can’t get flustered in the fourth quarter with two minutes left. That’s when you have to pull it together and come up with a proper solution. There’s always a problem and you have to have the ability to get through it.

Wait, now it’s back again. Oh the drama! Will the picture stay for another 24 hours? Will it be replaced? I can’t take the tension! I’m going to have to keep checking in to see how this story develops. But thanks for reposting the other picture, for whatever reason. 🙂 I’ll just pretend that it was because of my pain and anguish in the comment section over losing the first picture.

Long time. I don’t know if you remember me or not but i met you one night with Travis and im from chicago. I hope that life is treating you well. I ended up loosing my contact info as wel as your business card. Please give me a buzz or drop me a ine at your eairliest convenience. I might have some business that we can do. 480.297.7280

Have been looking for investors in a new concept Pizza restaurant in the West Loop on Madison Street the investment will have a 10% return on the member point buy in of 170K.. this amount will be paid monthly to all the members then they will continue to earn a split of the profits on a yearly basis.. the space is a new building with parking.. any interest please call me 312 307-3337 madison

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